Bio

I was born
and raised on the Big
Island of Hawaii. In 1989, I graduated from Konawaena
High School and subsequently moved to Honolulu, Oahuwhere I attended theUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa. Although I began college
with the intention of studying mathematics, I soon found that my true interest
was in economics. In 1993, I graduated (with distinction) from the
University of Hawaii at Manoa with a B.A. in Economics. The following
fall, I started my graduate studies in Economics.In 1996, I earned an M.A. in Economics from
the University of Southern California and then my Ph.D. in Economics
also from USC in December of 2002.